Peak performance: Acton climber on setting Everest record

A “pragmatic” change in plans meant a titanic payoff for speed climber Tyler Andrews, who a week ago shattered the record for an oxygen-assisted ascent of Mount Everest.

Using supplemental oxygen, Andrews completed the May 28 climb in 9 hours, 55 minutes, and 43 seconds, eclipsing — by more than an hour — the record of 10 hours, 56 minutes, and 46 seconds, set by Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa of Nepal in 2003.

Though Andrews set aside his original plan to scale “the Hill,” as he calls it, without supplemental oxygen, he told The Acton Bridge in an email exchange that when it came to his achievement, he was “mostly just grateful and a little disbelieving, still.”

With seven attempts over the last two years, “there were moments in there where I genuinely didn’t know if the mountain was ever going to say yes,” Andrews said. “Each failure taught me something essential, but they also took a real toll, physically and emotionally.”

He pointed to his preparation and said his team from Asian Trekking, headed by CEO Dawa Steven Sherpa, executed perfectly.

“This record is as much theirs as it is mine,” Andrews said.

The record has already been verified by Fastest Known Time, the de facto governing body for mountain speed records worldwide. Andrews also met with Nepal’s minister of tourism on May 29, who told him they would expedite official recognition.

Andrews made five attempts to summit Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen last year. He hoped to break the record of 22 hours and 29 minutes that French mountaineer Marc Batard set in 1988. 

A stubborn jet stream

Although Andrews intended to try for that record again this year, conditions dictated otherwise.

“The no-oxygen record was always the more audacious goal, and honestly it remains something I’d like to attempt in the future,” Andrews said. “But this season I made a strategic decision to prioritize the overall speed record for several reasons. The weather window this spring was unusually compressed; the jet stream stayed anchored over the summit far longer than normal, meaning the viable climbing days were fewer; and the no-oxygen attempt requires significantly calmer conditions than a supplemental oxygen attempt.

“The decision was a pragmatic one, and I’m very happy with it,” he added.

Andrews described the summit of the 29,032-foot mountain as “surreal and quiet in a way I didn’t expect.”

“You spend years imagining what that moment will feel like, and then you’re actually there at 5 a.m., no crowds, no wind, on the highest point on Earth, and it’s almost too large to process in real time,” he said.

Hazards abound

During one of his attempts last year, while crossing the Khumbu Icefall, Andrews fell into a crevasse and had to claw his way out using an ice ax — a near-death experience. Nothing like that happened this year, but the Khumbu Icefall remained Andrews’ biggest physical and mental challenge. He conducted most of the climb during the night, relying on a full moon to illuminate the mountain.

“People focus on the Death Zone above 8,000 meters, and that’s demanding in its own way, but the Icefall has a different quality of difficulty and scariness. It’s not just about fitness; it’s about managing fear and the mind’s response to danger in real time,” Andrews said. 

“The route winds through a constantly shifting glacier in the dark, with a handful of aluminum ladders spanning crevasses, hearing the ice creak and groan around you, listening to avalanches rumbling in the darkness without being able to see where they are. By late May, the anchors holding the ladders are melting out of the ice, making the going even dicier.”

Andrews’ parents, Tim and Valerie, were elated at his accomplishment. 

“We’re incredibly proud and inspired,” Tim told The Bridge. “He really did this through a ridiculous number of very challenging experiences.”

Before returning to Acton for a warm welcome from his folks, Andrews planned to shake off the Everest chill by spending two weeks on the beaches of Thailand with his partner, Anna.

This story includes some previously published information.